Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… Ben Carson repeatedly pronounced the name of Palestinian Islamic group Hamas as “hummus” during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday. It’s a lesson both in the pitfalls of outsider candidates understanding foreign policy and being the last speaker before lunch.
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‘16 FROM 30 THOUSAND
Combine a tragic shooting with a renewed fear of homegrown jihadist terrorism AND a debate over access to guns, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a very ugly political debate. Amid new indications that one of the suspects accused of killing 14 people in yesterday’s San Bernardino rampage may have been in touch with people with jihadist views, it’s likely that we’ll see even hotter language on the campaign trail about immigration, Islam and the threat of radicalization. And that’s not to mention the already-ongoing debate about gun control. So here are two sets of numbers to keep in mind over the next few days: A new Quinnipiac poll (taken before the San Bernardino attack) showed that majorities of Republicans, Democrats AND independents say they are most concerned about homegrown jihadists (more than they are about radicalized foreign visitors or about terrorists posing as refugees.) But there’s a pretty significant divide when Americans were asked if they think a major deadly terror attack on U.S. soil is imminent, with 62 percent of Republicans but just 29 percent of Democrats saying such an attack is “very likely.”
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Want to understand why the two parties respond to mass violence in such different and predictable ways? It’s about a partisan divide that goes deep.
- Republicans are pointing to extremism as more details of the San Bernardino shooting emerge, one of us(!) writes.
- Hillary Clinton isn’t letting up on her push for more gun control in the wake of the shooting.
- NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports on how John Kasich’s superPAC is emerging as the GOP entity most aggressively fighting a Trump nomination.
- Donald Trump is pledging to release his medical records, and he says they will show “perfection.”
- Hillary Clinton won the endorsement of an important Obama ally. Alex Seitz-Wald has more.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READ OF THE DAY
The New York Times reports that - at the request of Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook - the Clinton team is reviewing the way the DNC functions.
FOR THE RECORD…
“When I was a very young man, [my mother] said, ‘Johnny, if you want to look for a really good friend, get somebody who's Jewish.’”
John Kasich telling the Republican Jewish Coalition about his mother’s advice to find a Jewish friend.
TOMORROW’S SKED
HIllary Clinton touts her economic plan in Iowa. Ted Cruz is also in the state, where he will hold a “2nd Amendment event.”
Marco Rubio campaigns in New Hampshire.
Ben Carson is in Arizona.
Donald Trump holds a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.
